The name Uwe Boll has been one that I’ve been hearing and reading about for years. Aside from one or two entries from his filmography, it seems that I’ve managed to steer clear of all of his work. With the recent re-release of two of his films on DVD, I finally can cross another one of his projects off of the proverbial list.
Blackwoods tells the story of Matt Sullivan (Patrick Muldoon, Stigmata, Ice Spiders) who is taking a trip with his girlfriend, Dawn (Keegan Connor Tracy, Bates Motel) to meet her family. As things unfold, we learn of an incident from Matt’s past — five years ago, after having a few too many drinks, Matt took the wheel of his car and ended up killing an innocent girl, walking by the side of the road. Now, the family of that young girl has found Matt and vow to punish him the way they see fit.
Upon my first viewing, I’m not quite sure how I feel about this film. The acting was not as good as I had initially expected and the story seemed a little flat, while scenes meant to further the story just felt redundant and unnecessary.
Without spoiling the entire plot of the film, I can’t say very much. With Blackwoods, writer and director, Uwe Boll, was able to create a unique story of a man who is clearly suffering from a past experience. He has convinced himself of a reality that isn’t at all true. In this sense, the film is successful. It is this alternate reality that makes the film a little hard to follow, however. While it turns out to be a decent psychological thriller, Blackwoods charades around as a backwoods slasher flick, which simply is not the case.
If you can imagine a cross between The Sixth Sense and Deliverance, you can perhaps get an idea of what to expect with Blackwoods. My favorite part of the film was actually the presence of a young Michael Eklund (The Call, See No Evil 2), who I firmly believe is great in every film he’s ever worked on.
With an added introduction from Boll himself, Blackwoods is available on DVD from Olive Films today.
I give this film 2 glasses of wine out of 5.
I seen a few of his movies, some of them aren’t good but some of them I enjoyed. I might check this one out